Thursday, December 26, 2013

Mozart, K.35 "Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots," Rezativ - nothing to say; Aria (Gerechtigkeit) Erwache, fauler Knecht - this is rather pretty, string lance up and down around the soprano, the second verse is once again fascinating; Rezativ - nothing to say; Aria (Weltgeist) Hat der Schöpfer dieses Leben - maybe some word painting on "Wollust"; Rezatitve - nothing; Aria (Christ) Jener Donnerworte Kraft - word painting on 'Banges'

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Mozart, K.35 "Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots," I will be using translations in order to comprehend the German, which I cannot, on my own, understand completely.  Sinfonia: Allegro - enjoyed this well enough, concentrating on form, first and foremost, I found myself delighting in the whole of it - must take this as the operating maxim of this classical music criticism - pay attention to form; It seems that I only have the arias to listen to - I will read the recatitives, and make similar criticisms as I have done to the music; Opening Recatitive - nothing to say; Aria (Christgeist) Mit Jammer muß ich schauen - sort of pretty, the middle part has some rather vibrant lyricism; Rezatativ 2 - nothing to say; Aria (Barmherzigkeit) Ein ergrimmter Löwe brüllet - part that begins "Doch der Jäger..." is quite pretty

Friday, December 20, 2013

Mozart, K.42a Symphony in F, "Number 43," Allegro maestoso - I like the main theme of this movement very much, it has a great luster too it, very grand, very כבוד יהוה - I am becoming convinced that much of the joy of classical music listening comes from a willingness to concentrate on the form of a piece, the conscious noting of particular themes and the expectation on a moment-by-moment basis of their returning, this opening movement, if released as a pop song would prove very confusing structurally; Andante - the contrast between the pizzicatti texture of the violins and the opening theme is a surprise; Menuetto and Trio - middle section is oddly insistent, main melodic material rockets up, rather chromatic at points; Allegro - pretty variable thematically it seemed
Mozart, K.43, Symphony No. 6 in F, Allegro - there's something that sounds like an organ in this piece, probably one of the flutes or the oboes, it's just one note, but when it comes in, it sounds very strange to my ear; Andante - you have instruments "turning into one another" in the main theme frequently (taking up certain lines abandoned certain instruments), variations in the closing section too on the main theme; Minuet - a pretty falling or rising legato line, interesting piece; Allegro - boyant piece, alright
Mozart, K.62, March in D, drum rhythym sort of interesting, used very judiciously, otherwise found it uninteresting
Mozart, K.34, Offertory in C, Scande Coeli limina, Part 1 - alright, Part 2 - tricky organ part fun

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Mozart, K.61c, Recatitive and Aria for Soprano, "A Berenice," - alright, don't have much to say about either, the aria's sort of pretty I guess, can't understand most of the Italian though

Monday, December 16, 2013

Mozart K.33B - always had a fondness for this piece ever since I first heard it in "Amadeus," sounds like an engine revving at certain points - you think the tune is running out of energy, and then player turns the crank
K.33i, Recitative and aria for tenor and orchestra, "Or che il dover – Tali e cotanti sono" - alright, hadn't heard a recitative in a while, that was fun, the aria might have been a bit of a let down though, for how long it went on
Mozart, K. 31, Galimathias Musicum, 1. Molto Allegro - peppy, 2. Andante - that wavering and the crawling upwards and those pauses! - bizarre, 3.Allegro - the version I heard had an odd sliding down maneuver on the violin that sounded strange (Ars Antiqua), 4. Pastorella - wow, supposing that I heard that on the radio, I would not have thought that was a Mozart piece, wonderful, wonderful, 5. Allegro - melody is so odd, and then wierdest of all, it underwent some chord change near the end of the segment, sounded like the awkwardest thing in the world, 6. Allegretto - piece was fairly typical, except for (so much wierd stuff in this collection!) some sort up tonic seventh two-tone mixture played softly in the background near the end, what is going on with these!, 7. Allegro - alright, 8. Coro (Molto Adagio) Eitelkeit! - a choral piece - and there's a fucking organ in this one! relatively pretty too, 9. Allegro - well, this is a definitely a fragment, melody goes into some sort of odd polyphony and then just breaks off - but they play it - sounds very strange, 10. Adagio- falling theme, a bit polyphonic, 11.Molto Allegro - wierd, very repetitive, 12. Andante - again identical themes falling on top of one another, 13. Allegro - harpsichord bit, 14.Menuet - has an odd pulsating, 1-2 rhythym with plodding harpsichord accompaniment below, violin and horn play off against one another well, 15. Adagio - same sort of thing as before, climbing identical themes falling on top of one another, turning into some sort chimbing theme, then odd pulling again 16. Presto - on a page of music, somehow I imagine the notes looking like a wave that if compressed would look like a circle, 17. Fuga - these kinds of pieces exhaust me so quickly that at some point, if I am listening at all for structure, I'm listening for overall arrangement, and the entrance of the main theme

Mozart K.33, Kyrie - structure was difficult to pick out in this - sadly, that's about all I got

Whew!  I don't know if the enjoyment came from the concentration and focus spent on attempting to understand the structure of the piece or if it was just this set of pieces, but much, much more pleasant experience than a while ago.

As a means of clarification and contrast, I will now listen to an old favorite: Radiohead's Scatterbrain - wow, listening to mozart attentively definitely changed my experience listening to this song.  I now realize that I have stopped listening to music this way.  Back when I first started listening to the Beatles, I devoted much concentration and energy to listening for the song's form and, because non-classical music tends to have less complex forms than classical, I found myself becoming intimately aware of the slightest discrepancies or surprises in the expected outcome.  Overtime, I became more and more relaxed and listened for the feel of the song instead.  Before I listened to the song today, I would have said the peculiarity and worth of this song was its falling memorable melody.  Listening to it today, I see that I am aware of the melody, but the concentration spent listening to all the other elements of the piece while listening to the piece as a piece in happening (listening for structure) brought many more elements of the song into relief (like its jittery drum texture).

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Mozart, K.30, Violin Sonata #15 in F, Adagio - alright; Rondeaux (Tempo di Menuetto) - like the way at the beginning the violin just drags on one note - as per usual with these last few pieces, liked the latter half of them better
K.31, Violin Sonata #16 in B-flat, Allegro - has a sparkling texture at certain points; Tempo di Menuetto (Moderato) - has more of a plodding nature than some of the previous, more intricate too perhaps, at one point becomes quite twinkling, licking upwards on the violing and the harpsichord

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Mozart, K.29, Violin Sonata No. 14 in D - Allegro molto - like the violin when it falls sigh like an octave; Menuetto and Trio - don't know if I'm pressing too much to find something odd in the piece - alright overall
Mozart, K.26, Violin Sonata #11 in E-flat - Allegro molto - tapping, sort of insistent theme, version I heard wasn't that fast; Adagio poco andante - don't care for this one; Rondeaux (Allegro) - again, a kind of tapping theme, much more interesting than the allegro molto, though, more melodic contrast
K.27, Violin Sonata #12 in G - Andante poco adagio - climbing left hand interesting allows for a different texture than usual; Allegro - middle section starts in an interesting way
K.28, Violin Sonata #13 in C - Allegro maestoso - long trill start sort of different, I guess; Allegro Grazioso - there's always a cuteness, an interest, a difference to the latter portions of these pieces that tends to make them more memorable to me;

Monday, December 9, 2013

Mozart, K.73b, "Per Pieta, bell'idol mio" - lingering on the word abbastanza, comes in with the horn the second time around
 K.73d, Recitative and Aria for Soprano, "O temerario Arbace" - wow, surprisingly beautiful, especially the third section beginning with "per quel paterno."
K.24, 8 Variations in G on "Laat ons Juichen" - the variations keep getting better as the piece progresses, good fun this piece; I think I must have a bias towards keyboard pieces and arias.  Liking the stuff he produces in these genres better than the symphonic stuff.